instanter

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Medieval Latin īnstanter (“immediately”), originally “vehemently” in Classical Latin.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈstæntɚ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈstæntə/, /ɪnˈstantə/

Adverb

instanter (not comparable)

1. immediately; instantly; without delay.
   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 8:

     "They're another reason why I've got to get my girl and start instanter.

   • 1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, page 9:

     They lifted him onto the deck where he lay in his wet seersucker suit and his lemoncolored socks, leering walleyed up at the workers with the hook in his face like some gross water homunculus taken in trolling that the light of God's day had stricken dead instanter.

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:

     I cleared my throat & bade all good morning, at which our amicable captain swore, 'You can better my morning, by b—ing off, instanter!'

Related terms

• instant
• this instant

Anagrams

• insertant, intranets, transient

Latin

Etymology

īnstāns +‎ -ter

Adverb

īnstanter (comparative īnstantius, superlative īnstantissimē)

1. urgently, insistently
2. vehemently, violently
3. (Medieval Latin) instantly, immediately

Related terms

• īnstō

References

• “instanter”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “instanter”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• instanter in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “instanter”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC